BEST EVER TEXAS CHOCOLATE CAKE…A SWEET TREAT RECIPE FROM SWEET BASIL

I love chocolate cake. My Mammaw spoiled me with her recipe. Unfortunately, she was one of those wonderful cooks who used a “dash of this”…On my quest to replicate her recipe, I happened upon this…The Best Ever Texas Chocolate Sheetcake, ever! (Good enough to eat with a spoon right out of the pan!)

BEST EVER TEXAS CHOCOLATE SHEET CAKE

INGREDIENTS

CAKE:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

4 heaping Tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa

2 sticks butter (salted)

1 cup boiling water

½ cup buttermilk

2 large eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

FROSTING:

1 3/4 sticks butter (salted)

4 heaping Tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa

6 Tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

about 3 cups powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

Melt butter in a saucepan and add cocoa. Stir together. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into 13 x 18″ sheet cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (if using a 10 x 15″ jelly roll pan, you may need to bake 22 to 23 minutes). Grease the pan, for best results.

While cake is baking, make the icing. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn heat to low. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Continue cooking over low heat, until icing is smooth. Pour icing over warm cake.

Allow to cool for about 2 hours to firmly set the icing. If serving warm, or with ice cream, allowing the icing to set for 30 minutes, gives it time to begin to set up enough to remove pieces of cake in tact.

Recipe post by Tisha Johnson Matthews, of Sweet Basil Farm & Gardens. Photo courtesy of Pioneer Woman . Special thanks to J. David Matthews, of Barnesville, Georgia for support and patience with all that I try and test.